0624 - Science Museum

London

Heyne Tillett Steel have been working with Universal Design Studio to create the largest new exhibition space within the Science Museum of recent years, the new Information Age gallery.

Within the existing double height space a new 145m long rounded parallelogram bridge provides a viewing platform known as the ‘Whispering Gallery’, journeying along the way through six ‘Story Boxes’. The structure consists of a single continuous 350mm square hollow-box ‘spine beam’, with cantilevering box section arms supporting the timber joisted floor between and glass balustrades. The spine beam spans over several support conditions, including stiff UC cantilevers at each end, new staircases, story-box frames and discreet single-sided support from existing RC columns. The story-boxes transfer load down to the existing RC beams through a braced steel frame onto a complex arrangement of shallow spreader beams. No access to the Making of the Modern World gallery below was permitted at any time.